Ash City
Ash City was a sprawling metropolis located in the Plainterra at the site of what is now known as Phoenix City. Demographics Ash City's population was estimated at less than 150,000 at the time of its downfall. Demographics were dominated by humans, with that race making up 58% of the population. Dwarves were the largest minority at 30%, with nekomimi, gnomes, elves, and kitsunemimi rounding out the population at 3% each. Industry Ash City's industry, much as its descendant Phoenix City does today, depended on trade with other kingdoms, but in those days industry was less diverse, with the primary exports being steel products and clothing. Important Organizations In addition to the city government, which at that time was an aristocracy formed by the founding merchants, two powerful criminal syndicates were very active in the city; the Knights of the Omerta and The Church of Mechanical Trascendence. Government Ash City was an aristocracy ruled by the descendants of the founding merchants. All decisions were voted on by this Merchant Council, but very little say in affairs was given to the citizens themselves, leading to numerous laws that secured the estates of the rich while leaving the poor to suffer, leading to much of the city's criminal element and its ultimate demise. History Ash City was founded in approximately 200 BPC by a community of traveling merchants who saw the potential to capitalize on the site's rich soul, the nearby lumber of the Sylvanna, and the locale's proximity to three other major cities. Barely a century later, the Merchant Council ruled Ash City with an iron fist, keeping the rich secure and the poor struggling to survive. Public outcry over the injustices eventually lead to the rise of criminal activity, which would open the way for a darker chapter in the city's history as Donighi Morae organized most of the petty gangs into the city's first major criminal syndicate, the Knights of the Omerta, in 50 BPC. In 25 BPC, the vigilante Killraven took the first legitimate stand against organized crime the city had seen since the rise of the Knights, but new and powerful criminals such as the cult known as the Church of Mechanical Transcendence, conspired to have Killraven defeated. It was in the autumn 24 BPC that the Church finally succeeded at their goal, sending a trained assassin they had transformed into a cog to terminate both Killraven and his sidekick, local hero Zao Zeedlemyer. With the death of their heroes, the citizens of Ash City began to grow increasingly impatient with the criminals that now ruled their city, ultimately culminating in the Ash City Riots of 15 BPC, which brought the city to a standstill. By the time the riot was over, at least 50,000 had been murdered, and countless more were unaccounted for. The city, which had been damaged beyond salvaging, threatened to collapse in on itself until the gnomes and dwarves combined their efforts, resulting in the Brotherhood of Engineering and Inventor Rights Regulation (BEIR), which rebuilt the city from the ground up with state-of-the-art gnome technology that utilized latent magical power in the air as an energy source and masterful dwarven craftsmanship that brought the gnomes' dream to life. At the completion of a fifteen-year restoration project, Ash City was reopened to the general public, appropriately retitled Phoenix City. Category:Ash City Category:Places